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L. G. MACINTYHE.

CONNECTION WlTH BALLING MACHINES FOR SLIVER AND THE LIKE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5, I920.

1,404,623. Patented Jan. 24, 1922 4 sHEETs-sHEET 1.

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CONNECTION WITH BALLING MACHINES FOR SLIVER AND THE LIKE.

' APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5, 1920.

1,404, 23, Patented Jan. 24, 1922.

FIG I 4$HEETSSHEET2.

IN VE/V TO l G. lvmcm-rs ms L. G. MACINTYRE. CONNECTION WITH BALLING MAGHINES FOR SLIVER AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5,1920.

Patented Jan. 24, 1922.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3- INVENTO Lou/5 G-" B I 01 J fi-r-ronn/E S I L. G. MACINTYRE. CONNECTION WITH BALLING MACHINES FOR SLIVER AND THE LIKE.

' APPLICATION FlLED NOV- 5,1920- 1,4:O4,623. Patented Jan. 24, 1922.

4 SHEETSSHEET 4.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS GRIMOND MACINTYRE, OLE BROUGHTY FERRY, SCOTLAND.

CONNECTION WITH BALLING MACHINES FOR SLIVER AND THE LIKE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS GRIMOND MAo- INTYRE, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and a resident of Carbet Castle, Broughty Ferry, in the county of Forfar, Scotland, manufacturer, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Connection with Balling Machines for Sliver and the like, of which the following is the specification.

The invention relates to balling machines of the type shown in my British Patent 23,037/13 and in which a ball, or more correctly a cheese or short cylinder of sliver or the like, is formed between discs upon a withdrawable centre by the action of drums engaging its periphery.

11 operating this type of machine, considerable difliculty is experienced at the commencement of the ball, as owing to the soft and filamentous form of the sliver, it is not immediately picked up by the centre, and the centre (owing to some extent to the inertia of its mass) does not instantly commence rotating with the peripheral speed of the balling drums. Thus, the sliver is apt to become folded or looped upon the centre, so causing the formation of an irregular ball.

The invention has for its object to provide means for ensuring that at the coinmencement of a ball the centre shall rotate at its true peripheral speed, and thus ensure that the early convolutions of the sliver shall lie upon it smoothly and evenly.

According to the invention, means are provided for driving the centres at the cornmencement of the ball, otherwise than by mere contact with the surface of the balling drums, either directly, or through the first few turns of sliver. These means are such that they automatically pass out of engag ment as the ball increases in size. For example, the means may consist of teeth out upon the periphery of one of the balling drums which engage teeth out upon the periphery of the centre, which teeth may extend wholly, or only partially across the drum and centre. Or the balling centre may be constrained to rotate upon the spindle upon which it is carried, and that spindle be driven by toothed or other gearing at the proper relative speed from the spindle of the balling drum, the driving means being so arranged that upon the centre spindle moving radially away from the balling drum spindle as the ball increases in size, the driv- 'ings, Figures 1 and 2, Sheets 1 and 2 located in vertical Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Jan 24 1922 Application filed November 5, 1920.

Serial No. 421,909.

ing means moves out of engagement. Thus the balling centre is driven positively at its correct speed until the ball has reached such a size that slip and folding of the sliver cannot take place, thereafter, the driving means passing out of engagement, the ball continues to be built by its surface contact with the balling drum in usual manner.

Three illustrative examples of the carrying out of the invention are shown on three accompanying sheets of explanatory drawbeing respectively a partsectional front elevation and a side View in diagram of a withdrawable balling centre to which the invention has been applied. Figure 3, Sheet 2, shows the same application to another type of centre, Figures 4 and 5, Sheet 3, are illustrative of an alternative method of securing an initial positive drive to the balling centre, while Figures 6 and 7 are a sectional elevation and a plan of certain details drawn to an enlar ed scale.

I n the first example the balling centre consists of two coaxial cylindrical members A carried on endwise movable spindles B and journalled within hollow trunnion bearings C. The trunnions are supported by blocks D interconnected by a stirrup E and guides in the framing of the machine. These guides are not shown in the drawings but their positions are indi cated by dotted lines D in Figure 1. So mounted upon the centre parts A, as to rotate with the latter, are two parallel discs F between which the ball of sliver is formed. Coacting clutch devices G are provided on the abutting faces of the members A, which are adapted in a manner hereinafter described to be withdrawn into the hollow trunnions C when the formed ball is to be freed from engagement.

The balling centre is located between two forming drums H, J, the former of which is plain and the latter provided with teeth J adapted to engage teeth A of the same pitch on the peripheries of the centre parts A. The drums H, J, are rotated in the same direction at the same speed and at the commencement of the balling operation, that is, just prior to the sliver being presented to the centre, the teeth on the latter are fully engaged by the teeth J and thus both drums and centre rotate with the same peripheral speed, the teeth A on the centre just clearing the plain surface of the drum H. Under these conditions sliver is delivered to the centre and is immediately engaged in the nip between the latter and one of the form- 7 side of the machine.

ing drums. As the layer wound on to the centre increases in thickness, the teeth A are gradually moved out of engagement with the teeth J on the drum, and thereafter the drive is continued in usual manner by frictional contact between the sliver on the centre and the two drum surfaces.

On the spindles B carrying the centre parts are keyed cylindrical slippers K in a groove in the periphery of which there are cod pieces-K carrying pins as shown in detail in Figures 6 and 7 engaging in slides M supported on the machine framing and terminating in outwardly curved arms M As winding proceeds the sliver itself raises the centre and with'it the blocks D which move vertically upwards in their guides. After a predetermined amount of sliver has been wound on, the blocks D and centre A are raised still further by means of a chain 0 engaging the stirrup E and operated through suitable mechanism (not shown) from the machine drive. At this stage the slipper pins L, which have up till now been travelling in the lower parallel portions of the slides M, encounter the curved arms M and in riding up the latter force the spindles B outwards and free the centre parts A from engagement with the wound ball which may then be discharged from between the discs F.

The second example shows the same method of securing a positive drive at the outset as applied to a balling machine in which the centre is made in one piece withdrawable within a single trunnion from one The construction of the centre will be clearly understood from Figure 3. In this case the centre R is carried on a spindle S, a slipper K which operates through a slide M as hereinbefore described to withdraw the centre within a single trunnion bearing T, when the formed ball is to be freed. The return movement of the parts to their starting position is assisted by springs L in compression on bolts N secured at one end to a disc N fixed on the spindle S and extending at their outer ends through lugs P on the blocks D. The drive for the balling centre is the same as before, two forming drums H, J, being provided, with the latter in toothed engagement with the centre and supplying the initial positive drive thereto.

In some circumstances, as for example when a delicate fibre liable to be damaged by engagement with the teeth on the centre and formingdrum, is being treated in a balling machine, it is desirable that the positive drive should be arranged external to the actual balling centre and forming drums. Such an arrangement is shown in Figures 4 and 5, Sheet 3, as applied to a machine of the type described in the first example. In this case the peripheries of the centre parts A are smooth and so also'are those of the drums H, J. Outside the centre carriage is a spur wheel P carried on one of the drum shafts and engaging a pinion Q mountedon one of the centre-carrying spindles B. The wheels P, Q, are so proportioned that when in gear the centre is driven at the same surface speed as the forming drums. In this way a positive drive to the centre is ensured at the outset of the'balling operation, and as the centre with its carriage is raised by the action of the sliver as it is wound, the teeth on the wheels P, Q, are gradually disengaged and the drive finally continues as before by frictional contact between the surface layer on the centre and the peripheries of the forming drums. One or both of the latter may be leather sheathed to enhance the contact grip. It is obvious that this form of drive is equally applicable to a machine of the type shown in Figure 3 of the drawings.

What I claim is 2- 1. In balling machines of the type referred to for the treatment of sliver and the like, means for driving the balling centre positively at the commencement of the ball,

which means pass automatically out of engagement as the ball increases in size, as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In the mechanlsm forming thejsubjectmatter of claim 1 hereof, teeth upon the periphery of the balling centre adapted to be engaged directly or through the first few turns of sliver by teeth of the'same pitch upon the periphery of one of the usual forming drums, as set forth.

3. In the mechanism forming the subject matter of claim 1 hereof, positive driving means, between the balling centre and one formlng drum located external to the actual centre and drum surfaces which are smooth,

5. In the mechanism forming the subjectmatter of claim 1, a vertically guided carrlage housing the balling centre and movable bodily upwards by the direct action of the sliver as it is wound upon the centre, as an for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

LOUIS GRIMON D MAOINTYRE. 

